


The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

by annshiho



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, HEHEH I’VE BEEN WANTING TO WRITE THIS FOR FOREVER, also no miraculous au, anyways i love tatbilb its so soft, fake dating au, lukanette for the beginning, tatbilb au, theyre just dumb high schoolers, u know until adrien appears and is like, wanna fake date heh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-28
Updated: 2018-09-28
Packaged: 2019-07-18 17:09:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16123025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annshiho/pseuds/annshiho
Summary: Five letters for five crushes so intense that Marinette didn’t know what to do with herself. She never intended on delivering them though as fate may have it, they got out.{ To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before AU }





	1. Chapter 1

“Prove to me that you love me.” Marinette’s eyes scanned her romance novel’s pages, mouthing everything the female heroine was saying. 

“I’ll do so much more than that.” Her love interest replied. Marinette’s fingers danced with the pages of her love novel, her heart rate picking up as the climax of her book started. 

This was always her favourite part of any novel she’s read, where the main couple finally embrace one another in a passionate kiss and-

“Marinette!” Her focus broke as she dropped the book on her face, startled by the sudden shout of her name. 

“Yes?” Calling back.

“Juleka is here to see you!” Marinette cursed under her breath, completely forgetting the school project they had both agreed to work on together. She quickly raced around her room to make it look presentable, kicking whatever books that layed around under her desk.

“Send her up!” She yelled back. 

Marinette grabbed her school bag and dumped her binder, pencil case and text book on the ground, preparing her’s and Juleka’s work space. 

Her trap door flipped open to which she was greeted by her friend’s familiar purple hair. Though, what she was not expecting was for blue to soon follow her.

“Hey Mari! I brought Luka along since he’s done this exact project before and said he could help us. I hope that’s okay with you.”

“O-oh! Of course! That’s completely fine! 100% okay! Totally!” 

They both smiled at her response. 

“Great.” Luka spoke. “I can’t believe they’re still giving out this project.” 

As the Couffaines got comfortable on Marinette’s floor, she thought back on all of the memories she shared with Luka.

Luka Couffaine. He was Marinette’s first boy friend. Space between the words “boy” and “friend”. Friend who is a boy. Her and Luka only really started talking once she became a regular at Kitty Section’s band practices, (to be friendly support for Rose and Juleka, obviously!). 

Luka was easy to talk to. He was understanding, caring and gave the best advice. He understood Marinette’s emotions without her having to say anything. He could play his guitar and all her fears would melt away. He was a nice, welcoming change from Alya’s constant questioning of her whole story. 

He took her on walks when she was overwhelmed from rude customers at the bakery. He gave her his coat when she was cold. He let her cry to him at 3AM when she felt like she was all alone and never once complained that it was the middle of the night.

He really meant everything to her, and through the course of their friendship... She fell for him. Hard.

From what she knew, Luka was single. She so desperately wanted to be apart of Luka’s life, for him to be her boyfriend. No space in the middle, but Juleka declared him off limits to her close friends. She respected that, and knew it would make her friend uncomfortable, so she kept her distance. 

Instead, Marinette wrote him a letter. A love letter to be exact. 

Whenever Marinette had a crush so intense that she didn’t know what to do with herself, she wrote them letters. To remind herself just how strong and powerful her emotions could become. 

She had 5 letters tucked away in an old sewing box that she kept hidden in plain sight. Having more than one sewing box wasn’t considered unusual for a seamstress, right?

Luka Couffaine was the most recent letter she wrote. Her other recipients included Nino Lahiffe, Kagami Tsurugi, Nathaniel Kurtzberg and none other than Adrien Agreste himself. 

All five of these people had once held her heart in one way or another.

Nino Lahiffe. While on a very, albeit, awkward zoo date with Alya coaching her through it, she got to know her DJ classmate much, much more than ever expected. She learned who influences him in music, where he wants to go after high school and how glad he was that she spent the entire day with him. She hung out with him more and more often after that day, even picking up on his speech quirks and throwing out a “dude” every one in awhile. They teased each other whenever possible and soon became quite close. 

Her feelings only faltered when she realized that this, whatever they had, was fine as is. No romance was needed, and soon she quickly dropped the crush, but not before writing her first letter.

Kagami Tsurugi. After picking up fencing, Marinette found it hard to really connect with anyone while Adrien was busy doing photoshoots. She had watched Kagami practice alone from a distance, but never really approached her until partners were chosen for everyone. Though Kagami had a cold and mysterious exterior, Marinette soon found her personality to be much more warm and inviting. She wanted to know more about her, she wanted to be around her and most importantly, she wanted to be in Kagami’s life. 

They went out for coffee a few times after practice, but Marinette soon became too self conscious about her feelings towards the other girl. Her mind clouded with intrusive thoughts of “What if Kagami doesn’t even like girls?”, “What if I ruin this friendship because of my stupid feelings?”, “What if she hates me if I confess?”. With her anxiety getting the better of her, she wrote with passion in her heart and sealed the letter away. 

Nathaniel Kurtzberg. After being paired together for an art project, she really started seeing a side of him that he usually hid from others. He was witty, fun and had the softest heart. He was just as creative as she was and dreamed about a future together, designing and creating their own clothing line. He was so intelligent and soft spoken, and she absolutely adored the way his red hair complimented her blue. 

Marinette really thought that this could’ve worked out, until Nathaniel started growing more distant and cold towards her. He started ignoring her texts, gave excuses to not hang out and tried hiding whenever he seen her in the school halls. Of course this hurt Marinette’s heart, a lot, so she did what she did best. Wrote a letter and sealed it away. 

And finally, Adrien Agreste. Paris’ most well known model and son of world famous designer, Gabriel Agreste. If she was being honest, Marinette absolutely hated Adrien from their first meeting. Being friends with Chloé really gave off a bad first impression (though Marinette wasn’t really one to talk... Her and Chloé used to be best friends at one point.) It wasn’t until that fateful thunderstorm where he poured his heart out to her, and she finally understood just how lonely and vulnerable he truly was. He gave her his umbrella, along with such strong feelings she’d never experienced before. 

These feelings (which she never expected to go away) eventually did after Alya told her that him and Chloé had started dating. Marinette felt completely betrayed, wondering if anything he said in the pouring rain really meant anything at all. She felt angry, hurt but still loved him enough to write him a letter. 

Those five letters were like her own secret treasure. Only she knew about them, only she could read them. They were her own little reminders on just how dramatic she could be. 

Marinette really was a hopeless romantic, wasn’t she?

“Hey, how do you do this question?” Juleka asked. Luka hovered over his sister’s textbook and read the question.

“Oh. *That* one.” Marinette watched as he pulled his old notes out from his bag. “That one has been haunting students for as long as I can remember.”

She listened in on Luka’s calming, soothing, absolutely adorable voice while taking notes on how to properly solve the question. 

“Did you need any help with anything, Marinette?” Luka asked while scooting closer to her. 

The poor girl’s breath hitched in her throat as she realized the close proximity between the two. Their shoulders were practically touching! She took quick mental notes of everything she noticed about Luka at this very moment.

One, he smelt good, like, really good. His breath also smelled extremely minty. Her mind couldn’t help but wander to thoughts of “maybe he did that for her.” 

“Oh! Uhh... No! I think I understand everything just fine!” She quickly spat out. At that moment, she swore she could see Luka’s smile fade a bit. 

Did he actually want to help her?

“But I’ll be sure to ask you if I do need help! I promise!” She quickly added while jabbing her index finger into his shoulder. 

“Cool.” He smirked. Oh my god he smirked. Marinette also made a note on how blue and beautiful his eyes were. If she could, she would stare into his eyes forever, but she could feel Juleka’s intense glare into both of them. Immediately, and unfortunately, she broke their eye contact and reached for her phone.

“Wow would you look at the time! I have to help papa with the bakery! I’m sorry this couldn’t go on longer... The working part I mean! So uh... I don’t want to kick you out but I have to... go... Yeah.” 

“Oh, that’s fine!” Juleka reached for her phone to check the time. “Shit. I have to meet Rose in 15 minutes anyways.” Juleka scrambled to organize her stuff as best as she could before throwing her bag over her shoulder and running downstairs. “I’ll see you at school!”

“Au revoir!” Marinette called after her. 

“So, uh...” She froze. Luka was still there. Luka was in her room. Luka was in her room, alone, with her. “Did you need any help cleaning a bit?” 

She looked down onto her carpet and seen crumbled up pieces of paper thrown about, pens and markers without caps, and glitter thrown about.

She groaned. “Yes please, if that’s alright with you I would really appreciate it.” 

“It’s fine, really no problem at all.” He began finding the missing caps as Marinette started picking up the pieces of paper. It was a comfortable silence between the two of them, something Marinette absolutely adored with her friendship with him. 

He broke the silence first. “So... you’ve never had a boyfriend before, right?”

She did not like where this was going. She had made an unspoken promise to Juleka and intended on keeping it.

“Or girlfriend! Any significant other, really.” She responded. 

“Right. You told me about that, sorry.” 

“It’s fine. I just don’t really see the need to find someone right now I guess.” That was a lie. “I don’t even think I like anyone right now anyways.” That was another lie.

“Ah.” Was that disappointment in his voice? She hated this. She wanted to say “I’m sorry” but for what? What if she was just imagining this “disappointment”?

She stood up and looked around her room. It was nearly back to the way it was, good enough for her anyways.

“I’ll vacuum up the glitter later, I really have to help with the bakery now though.”

Luka stood up and stretched. She looked away, not wanting to look at the possibility of his shirt rising, even if just a little bit.

“Yeah, I should probably head out now anyways. Thanks for having us over.” He held his arms open for a good-bye hug to which Marinette happily ran into.

“Thank you for helping us! You can ask papa for a croissant on the way out, I’m sure he’d happily oblige.” She smiled up at her boy friend. Friend who is a boy. She had to remind herself.

“Sweet. See you around, Mari.” He gave her a wave and left her room. After hearing the door click shut, she fell onto her chaise. She could feel her face burning up.

He really was going to be the death of her.


	2. Chapter 2

Marinette awoke to the ringing of her alarm clock. 

Monday morning. 

She stretched her arms over her head while yawning. After 15 minutes of scrolling through her phone, dreading leaving the warm, comfortableness of her duvet, she finally made the decision to rise and start getting ready for the day. 

She ran around her room trying to throw together an outfit that was both comfortable and cute, deciding on an overall dress and a striped shirt. With her hair up in her signature pigtails, she was ready to take on the day.

Marinette quickly walked through the bakery and bolted out the door, only to re-enter the bakery to grab her car keys.

Ever since graduating middle school, Marinette no longer had the luxury of living across the street from her school anymore. Instead, having to drive herself there and back everyday and thus forcing her to wake up earlier. 

In all honestly, Marinette was terrified of driving. Papa said it was all okay and that she was good and responsible enough, and that this was good practice for her, considering it wasn’t too far of a drive. 

Did that ease her anxiety? Not even a little bit.

Now behind the wheel, she turned the car on and sat in her parking spot for awhile. “Breathe Marinette. Just breathe.” She repeated to herself over and over. “You’ve done this before. It’s only 10 minutes of driving, you can do this.” 

She took the car out of park, turned her music on and backed out of the bakery’s parking lot. 

Within minutes, she was riding down the familiar Paris streets towards her high school.

High school was very different from middle school. She no longer had her favourite teachers anymore. She barely had her friends anymore, with everyone being split up into different classes to fit their educational needs and desires. She was extremely lucky though. In every class she was in, she always had either Alya or Luka there for her.

Luka. 

Replaying the events of last night in her head caused her to blush immensly. Luka was so warm and caring towards her, he was always complimenting her and he really was one of the best thing that’s ever happened to her. Why did he have to be Juleka’s brother? It wasn’t fair!

As her final song played, she pulled into her school’s driveway and parked where she usually did. Not too far away from the school’s entrance, but not too close as to where people could potentially poke fun at her car. There was a good middle ground as to where her car blended in with the others. 

Marinette reached into the back of her car and rummaged through her bag to make sure she had gotten everything.

Her project with Juleka was above all the most important priority when packing her bag the night before. She known she had packed it. 

So where was it?

“Shit.” Marinette mumbled under her breath. “Are you kidding me? You couldn’t have forgotten something less important?”

Marinette pulled out her cellphone and scrolled to her most recent contact. Her phone started ringing and after just 2 rings, the other line picked up.

“Luka?” Marinette asked.

“Mari? Are you okay? Where are you?”

He could hear the shakiness in her voice. Marinette’s heart skipped a few beats, he really did care for her.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Are you with Juleka right now?”

“Yup, she’s right here.”

“Great. Can you tell her to stall our presentation as much as possible? I forgot my half of the project at home.”

She heard faint voices on the other line, only being able to make out Luka’s, Juleka’s and Rose’s. 

“Yeah. She said she’ll do her best. Where are you though?” 

“I’m at my car, just about to head back home. Why?”

“Wait there. I’ll see you right away.” With that, he hung up. 

“I really don’t deserve him.” Marinette thought to herself while smiling. She looked over herself in the car mirror, making sure her makeup was alright and she was presentable. 

She watched the school’s entrance doors as the familiar head of blue hair emerged and made his way through the crowds and towards her car. 

Marinette stepped out of the driver’s seat and waved as he got closer. He returned her wave and gave her a hug to greet her.

“Can I see your car keys?” Luka asked.

Marinette gave him a questioning look but gave them to him anyways.

“Awesome. Go to the passenger’s seat. I’ll drive you there and back.” 

“What? Luka you really don’t have to. I’m a big girl, I can drive myself.”

“I insist. I know how much you hate driving and how much it causes you to freak out. Please?” Luka stepped closer towards her while giving the biggest puppy eyes.

“You have class. I don’t want you missing class because of me.” She said, turning her head to avoid eye contact. She wasn’t going to let him win.

“And what if I want to miss class because of you?” 

Marinette didn’t have anything to say to that. She could feel the blush creeping up on her cheeks but she was helpless against it. Still avoiding eye contact, she crossed her arms and stayed in front of the driver’s door.

“You’re going to class, Luka Couffaine. You’re not missing out on your education just because I don’t like driving.”

Luka sighed. He looked away and smirked.

“Ms. Dupain-Cheng, I knew you could be stubborn but never to this extent.” 

Luka stepped towards her and before she knew it, she was lifted into the air. 

“Luka! Put me down and go to class!” He opened the passenger’s seat door and placed her gently inside. He made his way back around to the driver’s seat and started the car.

“Buckle up.” He smirked at her.

“I can and will bench your entire family.” Marinette huffed. 

“You love me.” He grinned.

“I do.” She affirmed. She really did love him, more than a friend. But he didn’t have to know that. “Thank you, though. I really do hate driving.”

“I know you do. I know you better than almost anyone else... You know, aside from Alya. When it took you nearly half an hour to get from the bakery to the ship, I knew something was up.”

Marinette sighed thinking back on the memory. That day in particular was pretty rough on her, having been given a ticket for parking illegally the last time she had visited the Couffaine siblings, it stuck with her and visiting them had become her greatest nightmare.

“I’m really sorry I don’t visit as often anymore.” She leaned her head against the window, the cooling window feeling great against her burning cheeks. “I feel awful about it but at the same time... I’m not really? Like... At least I’m not getting into trouble with the law or having panic attacks over driving...”

Luka gave her a sad sideways glace.

“You know you can talk to me whenever you’re feeling this way, right? I’ll always be there for you, Mari. Just like right now, I’m here. I’ll drive to you if I have too, no matter where you are in the world.” 

“I know Luka. I really don’t know what I’d do without you.” Marinette smiled. “I really love our deep talks, ya know?”

“And I really love talking to you. I don’t think I could ask for a better best friend.” 

Best friends. That’s all they’ll ever be.

Luka pulled up to the bakery’s parking lot and waited as she ran up to her bedroom to grab her’s and Juleka’s project, wondering if there will be anyone as perfect in the world as Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK I DIDN’T FORGET ABOUT THIS I PROMISE I’VE JUST BEEN HELLA BUSY AND THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN SITTING THERE COMPLETED FOR LIKE MONTHS NOW AAAAAA pls forgive me im shaking and crying rn also writing this chapter made me cry bruh i love luka so much everybody stan luka couffaine

**Author's Note:**

> ooof hello... this is my first time writing any sort of fanfiction since my 1d wattpad days so please bear with me (bare with me?) while I try to get back into the groove of things. 
> 
> tatbilb au! as soon as I watched this movie I just knew I HAD to write this, it was calling my name so here it is!
> 
> I also don’t really have an update schedule, kinda just whenever I have time to write? so sorry about that too aaA anyways I hope u like it I have many plans for this uwu


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